plane table

or plain table

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noun Surveying.

a drawing board mounted on a tripod, used in the field, with an alidade, for surveying tracts of land.

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Origin of plane table

First recorded in 1600–10

Words nearby plane table

plane sailing, planeside, plane spotter, plane surveying, planet, plane table, planetarian, planetarium, planetary, planetary nebula, planetary precession

Other definitions for plane table (2 of 2)

plane-table

[ pleyn-tey-buhl ]

/ ˈpleɪnˌteɪ bəl /

verb (used with or without object), plane-ta·bled, plane-ta·bling.

to survey with a plane table.

Origin of plane-table

First recorded in 1870–75

How to use plane table in a sentence

Gujjar Singh, with the plane-table, was detained by bad weather higher up the valley.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921|Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury
Work on the wireless masts went on apace, and the geologist was abroad with his plane-table every day.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
Stillwell commenced a contoured plane-table survey of the neighbourhood of Winter Quarters.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
The finer ground matter is washed on a plane table, over which a current of water is made to flow.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines|Andrew Ure

When the neighbourhood of iron renders the use of the magnet uncertain, a plate or plane table is employed.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines|Andrew Ure

British Dictionary definitions for plane table

plane table

noun

a surveying instrument consisting of a drawing board mounted on adjustable legs, and used in the field for plotting measurements directly

verb plane-table

to survey (a plot of land) using a plane table

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012